Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Tim Tebow In a Super Bowl Ad?

Now, I have talked before about how everything changes for Tebow the second the Sugar Bowl ends -- with his college eligibility over, he will be free to pursue paid marketing deals.

(Oh, and will Tebow get deals. I think he could surpass Peyton Manning as the NFL's No. 1 marketing force by the start of his rookie year. I will have a lot more on this topic later this week and throughout next week, but it is one of the most intriguing storylines of Tebow's post-Florida career.)

But there is a story out of Colorado that Focus on the Family is going to try to air an ad during the Super Bowl featuring Pam Tebow discussing her decision to have Tim.

According to the story, the ad would not feature Tim himself, but instead his mom. But the association is obvious.

(Tim may have strong beliefs about abortion, but his marketing team will steer him from personally being involved in an ad like that. As I have said before, one of Tebow's greatest gifts is that he appeals to people with strong religious values, but he also avoids pushing his values on those who don't want to hear them -- not anywhere near as much as critics insist he does -- and simultaneously presents a strong secular humanist message.

Now, I predict that CBS will ultimately not let the advocacy ad run -- the network maintains that right, and they have made that decision in the past.

But whether it runs or not, the IDEA of the ad alone will get a lot of attention.

Tim Tebow will be one month into his career as a corporate pitchman -- undoubtedly for huge brands like Nike, Gatorade, EA, trading cards, credit cards and more.

It will be fascinating to see how this plays out as Tebow the Person, Tebow the Player and -- very very soon -- Tebow the Marketing Force all converge in 2010.

(By the way, it would not surprise me at all if a less controversial marketing partner -- Nike, Gatorade, EA, credit cards -- used Tebow in a Super Bowl ad.)